Lunar Eclipse Cycle

Monday night the moon underwent a beautiful total lunar eclipse. Sitting at my computer in front of my east-facing window I was able to watch the moon as it rose over the course of two hours while the earth's shadow slowly crept over it (when it was visible between the scattered clouds, that is!).

Lunar eclipses aren't as flashy as solar eclipses are, but while the majority of people will never see (or have the opportunity to see) a solar eclipse without traveling out of their way, lunar eclipses are visible to the entire night side of the world. I'm sorry that I didn't realize this one was coming up soon enough to advertise it ahead of the fact – I'll try to remember to do so for the next one, as it's a really cool experience to see one. This one was especially cool because the moon passed very close to Mars as it was at full coverage, making for quite the spectacle.

This eclipse was also interesting because it was the first in a cycle of four such total eclipses. The interactions between the earth and the moon are complex, and usually you get a mixture of partial and total lunar eclipses, but every so often we get these neat cycles of four total lunar eclipses in a row. The remaining three eclipses are set to take place on October 8 2014, April 4 2015, and September 28 2015. A hui hou!

Partial Eclipse, Wholly Cloudy

Some of you may have been aware that there was a partial solar eclipse today (the 9th) that was visible only in a fairly narrow swath almost entirely over the Pacific Ocean. Since the Moon was close to apogee when it happened, and thus at its farthest point from Earth, it would not have been a total eclipse from anywhere on the Earth's surface (the Moon would have been too small); however, Hawai‘i was in the path close enough to the mid-line to have gotten about a 30% coverage of the Sun.

Unfortunately, despite the day beginning in bright sunshine, by noon it had clouded over, and by three o’ clock when the eclipse would have been most deep it had actually begun to rain (down in Hilo, though the web cam up at the Visitor Center showed a fair bit of cloud cover as well). So I wasn't able to see it this time, in case you were wondering (for the record, that makes the second partial solar eclipse I've been clouded out for since coming here).

Eclipse Report.

First of all, a belated Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) to everyone! I've been home enjoying the time with my family, which causes the unfortunate side effect of having little time to myself to write. I intend to rectify that situation tonight, however.

To start with, I figured I'd post what few pictures I have from the total lunar eclipse on the 21st. The first is one I took before it began with my sister's zoom lens, showing some impressive detail on the full lunar surface:

Our natural satellite.

Now, true to form whenever an eager astronomer wishes to catch sight of some rare celestial spectacle, the weather took a turn for the worse. No sooner had the eclipse started than clouds began to move in from the south. They were thin enough that the Moon was still visible, but it made getting good pictures quite a bit harder. And eventually, well before the midpoint of the eclipse at 12:17 AM, they thickened to the point where even finding the Moon on the sky was a challenge. This picture below is one of the last ones I managed to get before that happened, and also (sadly) one of the best.

The reason it's less spectacular than the first one is that I had switched back to my wide-angle lens, intending to take pictures of the eclipse every few minutes from my tripod to make a time-lapse movie of the event. That, obviously, didn't pan out, so I'm stuck with some low-detail images. It's not a complete loss, though. You can still clearly see the curved edge of the Earth's thick inner shadow (the umbra) creeping across the lunar surface, covering perhaps 45% in the picture.

So, not the most exciting eclipse I've ever seen (I have seen total lunar eclipses from start to finish before so it's not such a great disappointment for me). I did make one interesting discovery though: I noticed that the standard outfit I wear up to Mauna Kea, which keeps me warm for perhaps 15 minutes or so up there, keeps out the cold for over an hour here in California. Apparently it really is colder up there!

Home again, home again.

Well, sorry for my tardiness in posting to say that I made it home safely, it's been a nice couple of days of relaxing for me here. There was quite the rainstorm in Honolulu when I flew in. Turns out O'ahu is very pretty in the rain, though it's obvious they don't get it much there. Like the Hilo airport, the Honolulu one is open to the weather, and in many places there was water pooled on the floor, and I noticed a couple strategically placed buckets catching the occasional drop. Plus my entire suitcase was thoroughly damp when I picked it up. But the view of the O'ahuan hills with the clouds collecting among the gulleys was quite beautiful.

I tried to watch the total lunar eclipse Monday night, but clouds started rolling in just as the total eclipse stage started at around 10:30. They were patchy, so the moon was still visible for about an hour, which let me see the earth's umbra covering about half the lunar face, at least. After that the clouds thickened to the point where I couldn't even tell where the moon was with certainty. Both my sister and I got some pictures, and if I find the opportunity I'll post some up here. I shipped off my computer to HP this afternoon, so it might take me a little longer working from other people's computers (though hopefully I'll have mine back in working order soon after Christmas).